


In Definition

by stayawayfromthewalls



Category: Arrow (TV 2012), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-11-17
Updated: 2015-12-03
Packaged: 2018-05-02 02:01:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 3,895
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5229608
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stayawayfromthewalls/pseuds/stayawayfromthewalls
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Sara Lance discovers who she is by remembering who she was, and who she will always be Also known as Sara takes on a sentient gorilla and learns some truthes about herself.  And team arrow gets an unexpected bonus after Thea's recent rage episode</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

She's barely been in Central City a week when she finds herself walking down it's streets aimlessly. She wanted so badly to find herself but all she seemed to have succeeded in doing, was in losing herself in another city. A job history of being an assassin got you about as much in the job prospect as it did in Star city and she had less going for her now than she did then. There's a constant hum in the back of her mind now, now that she'd actually enjoyed killing someone. Killing, that wasn't new, but the desire to do so, the enjoyment of it, certainly was. It didn't help that she kept dreaming, of a dark-haired woman imploring her to let go. She doesn't talk to her mother about the woman. She doesn't know why, but somehow she thinks the mention will be sorely received. She recalls vaguely the woman was related to the last time she came back from the dead. But she can't put a face, or even a name to the recollection. What she does remember, though, is a fierce-some man's display and the irristable urge to laugh at the absurd display. So she walks most nights, searching, even if she doesn't know what for.

It's on one of those nights she hears the guns fire and shouting. It's on one of those nights, Sara Lance forgets she's not wearing a mask, forgets she's not wearing her standard black leather jacket, but rather a light white one. Sara Lance forgets everything but the cries of alarm as she races towards the sounds. What she sees, doesn't stop her from moving, though if she had the chance she'd ask herself why. Because what Sara Lance sees, is a rather large gorilla rampaging through the square and the police on the ground, paralyzed to stop it. What Sara sees are syringes lying the ground, all seeming to spell out a specific pattern. She sees her father, her sister-still trying to save the world.

She races past the fallen officers, picking the syringes up as she slides between the gorilla's legs plunging the syringes into it's legs even as she picks up two more. She's racing towards a familiar building, aligning the beams even as she hears it pounding the pavement behind her. She jumps onto one and then another, scaling them just barely out of his grasp before back-flipping over him, jabbing two into his shoulder-blades as she skids to a stop . . . right in front of the police. They're staring at her, some in awe, most in fear and Sara thinks this is it. They will finally cage The Canary for good, when one steps out of the crowd, slowly, his gun not drawn, as if he knew he was dealing with an almost rabid animal. Sara takes an instinctive step back-ward-except he reminds her so much, of her father, that she steadies herself.

"I'd like to thank you. But I don't know who I should be thanking." he sounds so much like her father, Sara is able to force herself not to attack as every part of her is screaming for her to do.

"Sara . . . My name is Sara." She whispered hoarsely, her voice still un-used to speech.

\---------------------------------------------------------

Felicity is scanning though the standard new feeds absentmindedly as she listens to the argument rearing it's ugly head through the cave, half-heartedly. She knew better than to involve herself in Queen family feuds so she's opted to let Oliver argue himself out until he realized Thea was right and console him later. That was of course before her Central City feed flagged a bystander shot video that had her initially worried Barry had found way to out himself. What she found required her to yell in order to get their attention, before playing it before them. Diggle, Oliver and Thea could all be heard to sigh. But Laurel gasped.

"She's ok, She's really okay." She knew Laurel choked back a sob. Because if it had been Felicity's sister. She would have done the same. Straight from the lazarus pit on

_______________________________________________

Sara is walking home from the incident, when she feels the shadow upon her back. She whirls around, snatching the blades out of thin air as they whirled towards her. She watches briefly as the assaliant comes into the light.

"Sara Lance? Or should i refer to you, as Sara Raatko."


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which, Sara meets some of the Flash crew and the Arrow team experiences the calm before the Canary storm

Sara becomes slightly famous in the way that people who go after mutant gorillas do. A stray thought to how the Demon's Head must be rolling in his grave comes to mind but it's disgarded shortly after. The media is clamoring for an interview, but she just wants to fade back into anonymity. The officer *detective*, she comes to find out is Joe West, has slipped her his daughter's card with a softly murmured "If you ever want to tell your story." The problem lies in the fact that half her story is missing even to herself. She's still dreaming of the dark-haired woman, except the dreams have beguin to feel more like memories. It never feels more so than when she tries to flirt with a local barista and feels more like she's cheating on the woman than anything else. Still, she and the woman, Kendra, abecome what seems to pass these days for friends and she can't be more grateful.

Two weeks later, she finds herself face to face with The Flash, though in circumstances less than desirable. Four idiots decided to jump her in an alley and she's made fast work with them, but the red haze is setting in as she has the final one in a chokehold. She can't stop the urge to snap his neck, but suddenly find herself against a wall, in a blur, before shoving the man off of her and preparing to take him down. Except, he does something that surprises her and removes his mask. Barry Allen is able to talk her down from the rage thru his connection with her sister and she ends up parlaying this connection into a job as a security officer at S.T.A.R labs. He's so different from Oliver Queen that it's almost jolting. Happy where Oliver was morose, carefree where Oliver felt like he had the weight of the world on his shoulders.

Upon finding out she's Laurel's sister, Cisco Ramon takes to calling her the "White Canary". She can't decide whether she finds it cute or annoying so she settles on exasperated. Caitlin Snow wants to run all sorts of tests on her to see if they can find some sort of cure for the killing rage that is decidedly NOT killing people, Thea Queen included. But after days of tests, Sara tells her to leave it be. Harrison Wells does not want anything to do with her, which is fine by Sara, especially having been on the receiving end of his throwing knives. She comes to find out later that she and her *wife* are owed a great deal by him, though he refuses to give a name to the woman even when pressed. She was brought back to life by a lazarus pit, but the concept of meta-humans befuddles her when explained by Professor Stein.

"Have you been living under a rock the past year?" he cracks when she asks if he's seriously telling her there are mutants.

"Nope, just dead," she snarks in response because really, what else could she say in response.

The penny drops a week later. She has a name to go along with the face in her dreams/memories. She's no closer to finding her though

__________________________________________________________________

They're licking their wounds in the Arrow cave after yet another unsuccessful run at Damien Daark. The man is continually one step ahead of them and the frustration is mounting. Laurel is tending to Thea's wounds as Felicity furiously searches for any mention of the cube they managed to uncover, but not take from Daark. They're all startled by Oliver slamming his fist into a wall and the ladies all share a look before Felicity walks over to him. He follows after when she crooks a finger at him then leaves the cave.

"Whipped." Thea coughs the word under her breath and Laurel snickers. Because he well and truly is.

Her phone rings to the tune of "Surfin Bird" and Thea groans even as Laurel answers. Because what else would she put as her sister's ringtone, but that after all they've been through.

"Who is Nyssa Al Ghul?" Sara asks her before she can get a 'hello" in edgewise. And the past has come home to roost for all of the Arrow crew.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which a wild card appears. And Team Arrow has some explaining to do.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And the author of the piece is just going to add chapters as they come to mind. The story is Sara-centric, but Team Flarrow make scattered appearances

She is listening to Kendra and Caitlin drunkenly duet "Smooth Criminal", the sense of normalsy surrounding the "girls night out" seems foreign to her even now. She flashes back to the stray moments they before stormed Daark's compound, and the interplay between Ollie and Felicity. Perhaps her bonding moments could've been out in the field, if only she could trust herself not to cross the line. She sighs as two shots are placed in front of her and she turns. The woman stuns in a powersuit, briefcase in hand, her smile is too sly to be trust-worthy, Sara thinks. Sara thinks, it's quite possible she has a type.

"I'm flattered, but un-interested. My life's complicated enough as it is." Sara says with a crooked grin, sliding the glasses back towards the woman, even as she laughs.

"Oh, they're both for you," the other woman says, placing the briefcase on the bar, even as she pulled out a file. She slid it in front of her. "Sara Lance, this is your life, should you be brave enough to look." She smoothly slid a photo out of the file and flipped it over. "The Ms. Raatko, you're so eager to find, I believe."

Sara stares at the photo, half-stunned. The woman who had been haunting her dreams ever since she came back via souped up magical whirlpool is staring back at her, but that isn't all. The landscape in the back ground is most certainly Star city at night and the jacket . . . the jacket. Sara has a flash of her gifting Laurel with it, before (she finds absurdly so given her luck with them) getting on a boat. For the first time, I'm deciding my own fate. The words come without prompt to her, her own voice echoing back at her.

"Who are you?" she whispers, as she turns to look at the woman, who promptly plops a file on top of her own and the picture. The name on it reads Nyssa Al Ghul.

"Amanda Waller. If you ever decide to opt out of amateur hour, give me a call." Amanda retorts with a baleful glare at the stage before presenting Sara with her card. She starts to walk to the exit before pausing and turning back. "Don't forget to take those shots. I paid good money for them, after ll."

Sara is on the phone to Laurel that night, and on her way to Star City moments after.

__________________________________________________________________________________________

When she arrives at the cave the Arrow crew sanse her sister are all on one side. She hasn't even started asking questions and the lines appear to be clearly drawn, against her. Odds stacked against her, back against the wall, felt like the best way to describe her life since she got on that damn boat. The problem lies in the small part of her that actually likes it, and large part of that loathes herself because she does. The truly frightening thing, is that she's pretty sure the feeling preludes her time in the whirlpool. She glares at all or them for good measure.

"It was my ." Oliver starts

"Father's fault, he had this stupid plan . ." Thea chimes in

"I had to make sure Ra's Al Ghul . ." Oliver then

"Stabbed you with a sword, then tried to wipe away your existence . . ." Thea now

"I don't think . ." this from Diggle

"It was the only plan we had . ." Oliver

"At what point was you marrying Nyssa Al Ghul, part of the plan?" Felicity intersects

"At what point was him killing Nyssa Al Ghul part of the plan?" Laurel adds

Sara slams the file down on the mid-table at this point causing Thea Queen to clinch. She doesn't know why, but she offers a sympathetic nod her way. Methodically, she turns the picture over, revealing the under cover of dark meeting with the elusive woman. The last photo she reveals is a candid shot, the two of them, just talking.

"I dream about her. Except, I can't tell if they're dreams or memories. Every woman I meet, I compare to her. To a dream! I want to open that folder. I want to know her, except knowing her like that feels like a violation. So I am asking the people I'm supposed to trust. WHO is Nyssa Al Ghul?" Sara stares at them all, hating that she has to confess the weakness, even as she dares them all to meet it.

"Oliver's wife . . . kinda, maybe. There's some debate . . ." Felicity rambles as she does, an attempt to defuse the situation.

"You love her. Or, at least you did. She loves you, but the last of you she saw . . . wasn't human." this from Laurel

"Where is she now?" Sara doesn't care about the past or the present and she had no desire to explain any of it to them.

"Well she sort of . ." Laurel begins

"Nuked the lazarus pit so my father has her in custody:" Thea finishes and Sara has heard enough. 

Sara stalks over to the armory they hold in the arrow cave, pressing buttons until she gets to the guns. If she gave it a thought, she'd considure how disturbing it was to know what she does. She pulls both firearms and bullets, loading the weapons mechanically.

"What are you going to do?" Laurel asks as she watches

"I'm going to kill Malcolm Merlyn. And anyone who gets in my way."


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which, a truth is revealed. And Sara Lance gets her justice

She can hear them arguing in the back ground, but she doesn't really care. She's on a corporate jet with the woman who murdered her, the sister who brought her back and the man who married the woman she loved. Her thoughts, they're towards the coming battle, and the Magician's future death. For what he has done, to Thea, Nyssa and her, the only end is his upon their sword. She sees Laurel throw up her hands before approaching her.

"So . . . Ollie's being . . . difficult." Laurel begins

"He's always difficult. Kill a few soldiers in another country, it's fine. Shoot a few people in Daark's compound, we're good. As long as he approves, we're good. Tell Ollie, he needs to stay OUT of my way."

_______________________________________________________________________________

Sara has them approaching Nanda Parbat by climbing it, even as the sense of deja vu surrounds her. It's just the four of them, Diggle staying behind to keep an eye on Daark. Felicity is remoting in on their coms. She's got two guns in harnesses, a secondary magazine fashioned around her waist like she's seen in a movie once. The sword strapped to her back is one she remembers only from a dream, presented to her as she knelt before Ra's Al Ghul. It's strange to reconcile, the man, who clutched her shoulder, calling her family, with the man who denied his own daughter her birthrite.

"You know there's a better way. You don't have to do this, Sara." he's whispers to her. All Sara can do it shoot him a look before marching ahead.

"Oliver, I love you. But you don't get to police your ex-girlfriend's actions, or your wife's for that matter." Felicity chimes in on the coms as they scale the mountain.

"You can add sister's to that any day now . . . overlord." Thea adds as they race after Sara

She reaches the summit before they do, the entrance to the League hidden in the middle of the mountains. Sara pulls the guns from their holsters as she walks towards the doors.

"Sara, Sara, what's the plan here?" Laurel asks as she runs to catch up with her. "We're not . . . going thru a side door here?'

"No, we're going through the front door. It's time the Magician takes his last bow." Sara hisses the words as they come to her. She expected heavy resistance at the door, that there is none suggests his ego has forsaken the need for safety. That they make it in thru many halls before encountering League members prove her right.

"You don't belong here, degenerate." one of members yells at her as he pulls his sword. An arrow slams him in the stomach before he can say another word.

"You should all speak your next words with care." Oliver growls the words as she catches him adding another arrow.

"I'm done talking." Sara says before shooting the rest of the assassins in the square. She walks over to the fallen member and pulls his sword from it's sheath, before throwing it, imbeding into one of the walls.

________________________________________________________________________________

She's down to her last round, which she shoots into the last member standing in front of the doorway as she walks thru. She drops the empty guns to the floor before pulling the blade from it's sheath. Not even Thea or Oliver intervenes as she approaches the man currently kneeling at the alter. He rises, turning to face her as she whirls the blade around her.

"If I had known you wanted a permanent death-Ta-er al-Asfer, I would've given it to you, when I sent you into the pit." Malcolm Merlyn is only less as formidable an opponent than Ra's Al Ghul, but Sara doesn't care.

"MY NAME, is SARA LANCE. And you have someone I want, MAGICIAN!" She points her sword towards the man as she glares at him. "Choose to die by my hand, and you die quickly. Die by Nyssa Al GHul's . . . . and you die . . . .slowly."

"I am Ra's Al Ghul!!" Malcom screams to the assorted members of the league.

"No." a familiar voice rings out to the crowd. "You were always a pretender on the thrown. And THAT is all you will ever be."

Nyssa Al Ghul reveals herself as she removes her swords from their handles.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In which the author thanks her reviewers. As always, I follow where the muse leads.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which an awkward family reunion ensues

Nyssa is meditating in the dungeon Malcolm has her shackled to when she hears the gunfire. The temptation to startle is strong though in the end she can honestly say she is unsurprised. Faintly, she wonders if A.R.G.U.S. has grown weary of their back and forth with the league and opted for a full on assault. With the Magician at the helm, they would be more tempted to go to war. The clack of heels on stone has her puzzled. They are not the sound of heavy league boots she is used to hearing ever since Malcolm had started torturing her.

“Our father dead by that lack-wit Queen’s hand. The league in the hands of the traitor. The League would have been better served had father named me heir.” Talia Al Ghul’s complaint mattered little now that the events had come to pass, but she voiced it anyway even as she unlocked the metal door to the cage.

“Hello sister. How fares Gotham these days,” Nyssa responded choosing to ignore the words completely in favor of the inquiry.

“Bruce has turned into a hormonal 13 year old panting after that insufferable Selina Kyle. And I’m certain the new family attempting to take over is merely the peasantry’s version of . . . well, us.” Talia spoke as she sauntered over to where Nyssa sat, twirling the keys all the while.

“At least you have your pet to keep you company, in the interim,” Nyssa said as Talia tossed the keys to her. She made quick work of the metal shackles before rising to her feet.

“Speaking of pets, your little bird has finally proven herself useful.” Talia said as she handed Nyssa her armor.  
Nyssa was certain her sister was looking for a reaction so she gave none, opting instead to done her armor and swords. When she saw Talia pouting, she rolled her eyes, a move she was certain she must have picked up from the pet in question, Sara. They moved from the dungeon with purpose, killing any League members standing in their way as they made for the throne room, where they heard very familiar voices rising in a rage.

“Cover the high ground,” Nyssa whispered, nodding to a stair well that would take Talia up several levels.

“You are lucky I am a most loyal sister,” Talia retorted before moving up the stairs

________________________________________________________________________________________

“I HAVE bested both of you, you know,” Malcolm boasted as Nyssa entered the room and Sara approached him from the other side.

“Only because I let you.”

“And because you used your DAUGHTER to do it.”

“Less talking, more slashing please,” was heard from the upper decks as Talia came into view bow and arrow already knocked, prompting simultaneous eye rolls from both Nyssa and Sara.

“Anyone who interferes, DIES along with the traitor,” Nyssa’s order rang through the room as everyone backed up and the two women circled the man, all of them with swords drawn.

The clash of steel on steel becomes the only sound in the room as the players dance around each other. Within seconds, it’s clear Malcolm is out of his depth fighting against the two women, one having learned from childhood and the other having risen from the pit. League members loyal to Malcolm move to intervene and all hell breaks loose. All three are dodging arrows as league members engage the Arrow team and Talia casually picks off members from her perch on high. It ends with Sara catching an arrow right before it hits Nyssa and jamming it into Malcolm’s thigh. He falters and their blades slide into his chest as he falls to his knees.

“T-They’ll never follow you,” he says as he coughs up blood.

“Of course they will. After all, you tortured me with both my father’s and your swords.” Nyssa retorts, eying the few members still remaining alive in the chamber as they fall to their knees.

“Hubris. Ain’t it a bitch.” Sara says as they both withdraw their blades.

The Magician has run out of cards to play, bleeding out on the floor.

___________________________________________________________

Later Oliver finds a pensive Thea staring out a window into a small garden below. They have all left Sara and Nyssa to their reunion. Felicity has given his strict instructions not to presume she would feel as he did when Robert had been lost. He had promised herhe would do his best to listen more to the women in his life and so he began with his sister. She was quiet at first before resolutely taking a breath.

"He wasn't my father Ollie." Thea began before turning to look at him. "He helped make me strong when I needed to be, but he was never my father. Robert Queen was. And he died a long time ago."

"Okay." He says simply.

"That being said. Can I get a hug from my big brother?" Thea asks softly before she's engulfed in his arm.


End file.
